(2) Not really overanalyzing anything when it comes to Eustice. More attention is given in the book about Eustice than any other charcter in the story. His redemption is pivotal to VOTDT as well as "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle".
I'd argue this point. A lot of attention is given to Eustace, but an equal or greater amount is given to Lucy (who has her own spiritual journey, of course). Once Eustace has been un-dragoned, he isn't the story's main focus anymore. Afterwards we mostly see things through Lucy's eyes.
(3) Yes, it is a fairy tale of sorts, but one in which C.S. Lewis meant to have strong spiritual overtones. Part of its purpose was to give a picture of Jesus in our world and he never denied that part as well, and the end with the Lamb coupled with his statement to Edmund and Lucy are of great importance to the reader. And I really don't care about the part as to Caspian at least coming ashore in Aslan's Country. That part didn't happen in the book and therefore, but it isn't an alarming change to me anyway. Neither is the part about the swords in some ways. Notice I said in some ways. The biggest problem with it is that it puts the story of the 7 Lords and their swords ahead of the main themes of the book. The part with the search for the 7 lords is a background story to the real themes.
It's like the movie "Saving Private Ryan". WWII is background to the real them of the film. That's all I'm trying to relate. Want to have the swords? Fine. Want to have Caspian in Aslan's Coutry? Go ahead. Just don't lose what I and many others consider to be the real spiritual themes of the book. Yes, it was a fairy tale, but it was meant by Mr. Lewis to be a spiritual fairy tale as well. Lose the Spirit of the story, and you lose the story. IMHO
Of course we don't want to lose the spirit of the story. Just be careful in emphasizing Lewis's meaning in writing the story in the wrong way. Good writers almost never sit down and declare, "I have a theme. Now I need to find a story that will illustrate my theme." Essayists and devotional writers may use stories in that way, but good writers of fiction generally don't (John Bunyan is the major exception to the rule). In most cases, poor writers are the only ones who approach story-writing like that. Lewis did not write the Chronicles of Narnia as a Sunday school lesson. He began the series because of a picture that got stuck in his head!
That's not to diminish the spiritual themes, but to say that those themes are not the sole reason the series exists. Also, there are many other themes in the book besides our "spiritual journey." For example, what about the theme of adventure? Eustace is deprived because he never read adventure stories (not adventure stories that are really allegories, but simply
adventure stories). Lewis emphasizes throughout the book the importance of imagination, exploration, and wonder. Science, Lewis suggests, has its place, but we were created to live heroic, adventure-filled lives, and we should not allow an inflated empiricism to keep us back from the purpose for which we were created. And there are many other themes that appear in the books besides these.
Theme is important, of course, but to fixate on it before the movie's release is to jump the gun before the gun has even been loaded. Once the movie does come out,
then we can analyze theme, first asking, "What does the movie say, taken on its own?" Then we can move on to "What does it say about the filmmakers that they changed this particular element of the book? Is this automatically bad, or is it potentially neutral?"
And I'm saying this as someone who re-reads the Narnia series at least once a year, and who was introduced to the books long before the movies. I care about the books very much, and I am disappointed that they will not be including the Lamb scene (it is one of my favorite scenes in the book, and almost certainly the most beautiful). However, I do not know whether this means they have majorly botched Aslan's essential character (remember, if Aslan appears as a lamb in only one of Lewis's books, it can't be a destruction of His character to not include it in the movie--or Lewis was omitting parts of his own character's character in the books). I plan to withhold judgment on that scene until I have seen the movie for myself.
